Amoco's Gulf of Mexico South Timbalier 161A platform took a direct hit from Hurricane Andrew in August of 1992, experiencing loads which far exceeded its design load. The platform had been strengthened prior to the hurricane using remedial measures identified through risk analyses. The platform joint damage caused by the hurricane indicates that the platform experienced loads approaching its capacity. This event provided a unique opportunity to calibrate existing nonlinear assessment procedures to a rare full-scale real life load test. Although many uncertainties limit the scope of such a calibration, the comparison of the calculated vs. observed response gives credibility to state-of-the-art offshore platform assessment techniques.